Director Bio

Derek A. Paley is the Willis H. Young Jr. Professor of Aerospace Engineering Education
in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Institute for Systems Research at the
University of Maryland. He is the founding director of the Collective Dynamics and Control
Laboratory, an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a
member of the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center, the Maryland Robotics Center, the Program in
Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, the Burgers Program for Fluid Dynamics, the Applied
Mathematics & Statistics, and Scientific Computation Program, and the Brain and Behavior
Initiative. Paley received the B.S. degree in Applied Physics from Yale University in 1997 and
the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in
2007 (dissertation). He is the recipient of the Yale University Henry Prentiss Becton Prize for
Excellence in Engineering and Applied Science in 1997, the Princeton University Harold W. Dodds
Honorific Fellowship in 2006, the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2010,
the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2012, the University of
Maryland E. Robert Kent Teaching Award for Junior Faculty in 2014, and the AIAA National
Capital Section Engineer of the Year in 2015. Paley has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed
publications including one textbook: Engineering Dynamics: A Comprehensive Introduction
(Princeton University Press, 2011). He teaches introductory dynamics, advanced dynamics,
aircraft flight dynamics and control, and nonlinear control. Paley’s research interests are in the
area of dynamics and control, including cooperative control of autonomous vehicles, adaptive
sampling with mobile networks, and spatial modeling of biological groups. His research is based
on support by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, the
National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research. Paley is Associate Fellow of
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Senior Member of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He serves as Associate Editor of AIAA Journal ofGuidance, Control, and Dynamics. Curriculum vitae; Google scholar profile; ResearcherID

Videos

(To see a list of all of the videos, click the playlist button at the top left of the video player below.)

Current Projects

SEA-STAR: Soft Echinoderm-Inspired Appendages for Strong Tactile AmphibiousRobots (ONR 2017–2020), with C. Majidi, J. Weaver, N. Wereley, R. Wood The
long-term goal of this project is to introduce a functionally hierarchical architecture and
distributed control scheme for dexterous, underwater soft robot appendages with a high
force-to-compliance ratio. The hierarchical design is inspired by the complex organization
of endoskeletal elements, water vascular system, and tube-feet arrays in radially symmetrical
echinoderms (such as sea stars, brittle stars, and basket stars). The global configuration and
dynamical state of the SEA-STAR robotic appendages will be controlled by a network of
embedded sensors and hydraulic actuators for shape proprioception and local closed-loop
control. The proposed efforts will build on our collective expertise in echinoderm anatomy,
soft and bio-inspired robotics, the mechanics of materials and tribology, multi-material 3D
printing, and distributed sensing and control of underwater robotic systems.

University of Maryland Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (Army, Navy &
NASA 2016–2021, with the A. Gessow Rotorcraft Research Center) This research program
seeks to advance fundamental understanding, predictive, and design optimization capabilities
in a number of areas of science and engineering of great significance to the rotorcraft field.
The objective of the CDCL task, “Dynamic Control of Autonomous UAVs in Unsteady
Wind,” is to apply tools from nonlinear dynamics, feedback control, and estimation theory
to address the problem of autonomous rotorcraft flight in gusty winds, and apply the results
to collaborative control of autonomous rotorcraft.

Nonlinear Dynamics and Distributed Control for Soft Robot Locomotion (ARO
2016–2019), with C. Majidi and O. O’Reilly This project’s goal is to construct a
mathematical framework for real-time control of a soft robot system through dynamical
modeling and sensor feedback. The dynamics and control framework will be validated
on an experimental testbed to include soft, limbed robots powered by dielectric-elastomer
actuators and shape-memory alloy. In contrast to their conventional rigid counterparts, soft
machines and robots are elastically deformable bodies capable of extreme changes in shape
and functionality. Progress in the nascent field of soft robotics depends on the ability to
rapidly and faithfully model the dynamical state of a soft robot and incorporate this model
into a feedback control for real-time path planning and locomotion.

Bio-inspired Underwater Sensing and Control with Mechanosensitive Hairs (ONR
2015–2018, with X. Tan and M. McHenry) The long-term goal of this research project
is to investigate an underwater robotic perception and control system based on the lateral
line and vestibular systems in fish that will support a closed-loop control system using
bio-inspired, multi-modal sensing. The proposed research activities will highlight biological
experimentation based on emerging tools such as functional imaging (a technique used in
parallel with optogenetics) that aims to resolve the role of multi-modal sensing in behavior.
The specific research objective is to apply tools from comparative physiology, material
science, and dynamical control systems to solve the problem of closed-loop sensing and
robotic control with artificial lateral line and vestibular organs.

Motion Guidance for Ocean Sampling by Underwater Vehicles using AutonomousControl and Oceanographic Models with Forecast Uncertainty (NSF 2014–2018, with
K. Ide) This project addresses fundamental questions on how to select the optimal locations
to collect observations and how to ensure that the sensor platforms travel to these
locations along informative paths in an expansive, dynamic process such as the ocean.
The significance of the proposed research lies in the observation that climate processes
occur on long time scales. Understanding these processes requires a combination of ocean
models and observations, which can be collected over large space-time volumes by fleets
of high-endurance autonomous submarines that steer intelligently to maximize the utility of
their measurements.

PECASE: Bio-inspired Propulsion, Sensing and Control for a Novel UnderwaterVehicle (ONR 2014-2019) The long-term goal of this project is to conduct fundamental
research in bio-inspired sensing and control for the creation of a novel autonomous
underwater vehicle capable of agile maneuvers and stable motion in a dynamic environment.
The specific research objective is to apply tools from aerospace engineering, specifically
engineering dynamics, nonlinear control and estimation, and fluid dynamics, to solve the
problem of closed-loop control of a flexible airfoil in flowing water using distributed pressure
sensing.